Leadership and Management

Topic 4: Designing Organisation

BBM1 Lecture 9
10/25/2020
Learning areas to be covered
• The process of organizing

• Aim of organizational design

• Conducting organization reviews

• Organizational analysis

• Organizational diagnosis

• Job design
 The process of organizing
• The process of organizing can be described as the design, development
and maintenance of a system of coordinated activities in which
individuals and groups of people work cooperatively under leadership
towards commonly understood and accepted goals.

• The process of organizing may involve the redesign of the total structure,
but most frequently it is concerned with the organization of particular
functions and activities and the basis upon which the relationships
between them are managed.
 The process of organizing
• An important aim of organizational design is to achieve the ‘best fit’
between the structure and these circumstances. An attempt has to be
made to ensure that the growth of the organization does
not produce unwieldy, unmanageable or inappropriate structures.

• Another important point to bear in mind is that organizations consist of

people working more or less cooperatively together.
 Aim of organizational design
• To optimize the arrangements for conducting the affairs of the business
or a unit in the business.
• clarify the overall purposes of the organization – the strategic goals that
govern what it does and how it functions;

• define how work should be organized to achieve that purpose, including the
use of technology and other work processes;

• define as precisely as possible the key activities involved in carrying out the
work;
 Aim of organizational design
• group these activities logically together to avoid unnecessary overlap or
duplication;

• provide for the integration of activities and the achievement of cooperative

effort and teamwork;

• build flexibility into the system so that organizational arrangements can adapt
quickly to new situations and challenges;

• provide for the rapid communication of information throughout the

organization;
 Aim of organizational design
• define the role and function of each organizational unit so that all concerned
know how it plays its part in achieving the overall purpose;
• clarify individual roles, accountabilities and authorities;
• take account of individual needs and aspirations;
• design jobs to make the best use of the skills and capacities of the job holders
and to provide them with high levels of intrinsic motivation;
• plan and implement organization development activities to ensure that the
various processes within the organization operate
• set up teams and project groups as required to be responsible for specific
processing, development, professional or administrative activities or for the
conduct of projects.
 Conducting organization reviews

Implementati
analysis diagnosis plan on of the plan
 Conducting organization reviews
• An analysis, as described in the next section, of the existing
arrangements and the factors that may affect the organization now and in
the future.

• A diagnosis, also described later in this chapter, of the problems and

issues facing the organization and of what therefore needs to be done to
improve the way in which the organization is structured and functions.
 Conducting organization reviews
• A plan to implement any revisions to the structure emerging from the
diagnosis, possibly in phases. The plan may include longer-term
considerations about the structure and the type of managers and
employees who will be required to operate within it.
4. Implementation of the plan.
 Organizational analysis
• Organizational analysis starts with an examination of the activities
carried out to establish what work is done and what needs to be done to
achieve the objectives of the organization or organizational unit.

• The analysis should cover what is and is not being done, who is doing it
and where, and how much is being done.

• The structure is analysed to determine how activities are grouped

together and the number of levels in the hierarchy.
 Organizational diagnosis
• The aim of the diagnosis is to establish the reasons for any
structural problems. The diagnosis should be made on the basis
of the initial analysis.

• The organizational guidelines set out in the

following section can be used to identify causes and therefore
indicate possible solutions.
 Organizational diagnosis- organizational guidelines
• (line of command, span of control, etc) as formulated by Urwick (1947)
• Tom Lupton (1975) pointed out that: ‘The attraction of the classical
design from the point of view of top management is that it seems to offer
control’.
• Allocation of work.
• Differentiation and integration.
• Teamwork. Flexibility.
• Role clarification Decentralization.
• De-layering
 Job design
• The aim of job design is to ensure that motivation is achieved through the
work itself, ie intrinsic motivation.

• Three characteristics have been distinguished by Lawler (1969)

• Feedback – individuals must receive meaningful feedback about their
performance,

• Use of abilities – the job must be perceived as requiring them to use abilities
they value in order to perform the job effectively

• Self-control – individuals must feel that they have a high degree of self-control
over setting their own goals and over defining the paths to these goals.